DRDO building Star Wars-like laser weapon systems

NEW DELHI: The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is reportedly taking steps towards developing directed energy weapons (DEW) in an attempt to develop futuristic weapons.

DRDO is in the process of developing a 10-kilowatt DEW against UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) like targets, with ‘the establishment of critical technologies of precision tracking/pointing and laser beam combination’, a report by a leading daily said.

The system has reportedly been tested up to a range of 800 metres at its Hyderabad-based Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences (CHESS). However, the actual operational deployment of such directed energy weapons will still take some time, although the US, Russia, China and others are leagues ahead in the race, the report added. High-energy lasers have achieved much popularity in popular sci-fi movies like ‘Star Wars’.